“I met John Kerry when I became a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in 1971. If I were running for office, I might be tempted to say that I joined the WAW because I was opposed to the war. The truth was less noble. I was broke, their offices were a convenient crash pad and you could meet a hell of lot of loose women by going to demonstrations as a “Vet”.

I didn’t last long. Half the guys were outright liars, and the few who were sincere were either physically damaged (Ron Kovic, Jan Scruggs) or hopelessly addicted to Marxism. The most committed “radicals” were the FBI agents. They were right out of Conrad – trying desperately to incite to real violence a bunch of mostly lost kids who enjoyed having cameras pointed at them and getting stoned.

John was clearly on the make, but he was also a classic preppy mook. He wanted so much to be one of the people like Scott Camille who had been “stone killers” but after a few minutes of talking to him it was clear that he was one of the guys who never knew where the fire was coming from even when the enemy were using tracers.”
…
“What I do not doubt is that John successfully gamed the system to get his 3 purples and his quick ticket home. I suppose I should be bitter about it, but life is too short; and you have to look at it from the point of view of his fellow sailors. The ones who knew what they were doing also knew that a guy that arrogantly dumb was a menace. He could get you killed. Better to ship him home.

John’s current stature as a “war hero” is a measure of how few Americans – even those of the “Greatest Generation” – have ever seen the sharp end of war. “